Moving to Business Central?
Business Central Data Migration
Safe, reconciled Business Central data migration, backed by 25+ years of moving businesses forward on NAV and Business Central.
The New System Isn’t the Hard Part. The Data Is.
Moving to Business Central is a big decision, and most of the worry sits in one place: your data. Years of customer and vendor history. Balances your auditors will check. A business that has to keep running while it all moves.
NAV SEAL has worked with NAV and Business Central for more than 25 years. We’ve moved companies from NAV, GP and older systems many times, and we’ve built that experience into a Business Central data migration method, and a free app, that gets your data across clean, complete and reconciled.
Watch: Business Central Data Migration in 90 Seconds
A short look at how we get your data from your old system into Business Central, and how we prove the numbers are right.
Why Business Central Data Migrations Go Wrong
Most migration problems aren’t technical. They come from three shortcuts.
Old clutter copied across
Inactive customers, duplicate items and years of workarounds move into the new system, and your fresh start inherits every old problem.
Balances that don’t tie out
Opening balances are keyed in by hand or loaded without control totals. The first month-end close is when someone finds out.
History lost or dumped
Either the history stays behind in the old system, or it’s posted into Business Central and clutters your books, reports and costing.
Two Paths to Business Central
Upgrade
Everything comes across as it is: all history in the new ledgers, along with the old setup and the old clutter. Right for some companies, especially when the data is already clean.
Clean start
Your master data, open balances and the history you actually use, on a fresh setup with clean ledgers. Nothing you need is left behind, and nothing you don’t need comes along.
We look at your business and your data, and tell you honestly which path fits.
What Our Business Central Data Migration Covers
With a clean start, every area comes across with its master data, its opening balances and its history. You choose what’s in scope.
General Ledger
- Chart of accounts and dimension values
- Opening trial balance
- G/L history
Customers
- Customers
- Open receivables
- Sales history
Vendors
- Vendors
- Open payables
- Purchase history
Items
- Items and units of measure
- Inventory on hand
- Item history
Your history stays in Business Central, where your team can look it up from the customer, vendor and item cards, without it being posted into your new books.
How Our Business Central Data Migration Works
- Assess. We review your current system and data, and agree on what comes across.
- Extract and map. Your data is exported to files and mapped to Business Central.
- Validate. Every row is checked before anything is written, and every issue is listed in one pass.
- Rehearse. We run the full migration in a sandbox, so go-live is a repeat, not a first attempt.
- Go live and reconcile. The final run is checked against your old system’s totals, and your finance team posts the opening balances.
How We Prove Your Business Central Data Migration Is Right
A migration is only finished when the numbers tie out. We don’t ask you to take that on trust.
- Every file is checked against control totals from your old system: row counts for master data, amounts for balances and history.
- Opening balances arrive as journals. Your finance team reviews and posts them, so you stay in control of your books.
- Everything meets on one opening balance account. When every batch is posted, it nets to zero, and every balance is accounted for.
- Every step can be rerun. A bad row is logged and skipped, not left to stop the migration.
Every file checked. Every balance reconciled.
Do It Yourself, or Let Us Run It
Our migration app is free, and so is the assessment. Use them on your own, or with us beside you.
Use our free migration app
Download the NAV SEAL Migration app for Business Central online, with step-by-step guides in our knowledge base. Import, validate, apply and reconcile your data yourself.
Let NAV SEAL run it
We plan the migration, prepare the files, run the rehearsals and reconcile the result with your finance team. You work with senior people who have done this many times.
Migration Is More Than Data
Getting started on Business Central also means deciding how it should be set up, and what to do with the customizations in your old system.
Setup
Posting groups, dimensions and number series are your chance to redesign, not just copy. We help you set up Business Central for how your business works today.
Customizations
For each modification in your old system, we decide together: retire it, replace it with standard Business Central or an app, or rebuild it as an upgrade-safe AL extension. See our development services.
Already started a migration that stalled? We can step in and recover it.
Coming From NAV, GP or Another System?
Dynamics NAV
Our roots. Whatever your NAV version, we know your data model, your customizations and the shortcuts your team has learned over the years.
Dynamics GP
With GP heading toward end of support, many GP customers are planning their move now. Our file-based approach brings your GP data across on your terms.
Other systems
QuickBooks, Sage, legacy or home-grown systems, even spreadsheets. If your data can be exported, we can migrate it.
What Our Clients Say
Your deep technical knowledge, responsiveness, and professionalism have made a significant difference in our BC implementation.
Santiago Ramirez, Chief Information Officer
Their ability to bridge the gap between technical configuration and business process optimization is truly impressive.
Mike Osolinski, Vice President – Operations
Is the migration app really free?
Yes. The NAV SEAL Migration app and the Data Migration Assessment are both free. Download the app from our knowledge base and use it with or without us.
How long does a data migration take?
It depends on the number of areas, the data volume and how much cleanup is needed. We’ll give you an honest timeline after the free assessment.
How much history should we bring?
Enough to answer the questions your team asks day to day, and no more. We recommend an amount during the assessment, based on your data volume and reporting needs.
What happens to closed transactions?
Closed invoices and payments come across as history, not as posted entries. Your team can look them up in Business Central, and only open balances are posted.
Do we need to clean our data first?
It helps, but you don’t need to finish first. Validation lists every problem in one pass, so cleanup becomes one focused task instead of rounds of trial and error.
Can you take over a migration another partner started?
Yes. We can step in, assess where it stands and finish it without starting from scratch.
What’s Included in Your Free Business Central Data Migration Assessment
A no-obligation review of your current system and data, with a clear recommendation that’s yours to keep, even if you choose to migrate on your own.
- A review of your current system, data volumes and data quality
- A recommendation: upgrade or clean start
- What to bring across, and how much history
- The setup and customizations to plan for
- An honest timeline and next steps
Talk to NAV SEAL
Whether you’re on NAV, GP or another system, and whether you’re ready to move or just starting to plan, we’d like to hear about it.
We’ll tell you what we see, which path fits, and what it would take to get your data safely into Business Central.
NAV SEAL. Fully committed. Every project, every client.